Curious about the answer to this question: How may I verify WAAS channel number on G1000?, I just found that SBAS/WAAS use in aviation seems to be poorly explained.
In particular the WAAS "channel number" seems to suggest that some radio frequency is associated with a given WAAS approach.
(Image taken from the linked question)
I think the WAAS service is provided by only two geosynchronous satellites, each one broadcasting on the same frequency the corrections for the whole US area. So there is no need to tune the WAAS receiver based on the airport location, the runway number, or the LPV identifier.
So the question: Are these 3 informations strictly redundant (maybe not taking into account version numbers), and they exist only for triple-check purpose?
- LPV approach name: RNAV (GPS) Y RWY 36L,
- WAAS channel number: WAAS CH 56613,
- WAAS approach ID (aka reference path identifier): W36A
Could you confirm that selecting any of these values on the avionics will only change what is retrieved from the local navigation database, and will not impact the GPS/WAAS data received?
Note: I could understand if the approach were LAAS/GBAS (local ground-based) instead of SBAS.